Losing Your Mojo

[DangerDwarf]

For you other, long time CK's out there...

Do you ever sometimes feel like you are losing your mojo? You're on top of the rules, can bust out ajudications at the drop of a hat but just temporarily lose that luster or shine that lets you weave an engaging adventurous tale with your group?

I just feel like I'm in a rut, and at the end of a session here lately it feels kinda like we accomplished little more than doing a hollow, dice rolling convention.

In the past 20+ years I've been the CK/DM/GM 99% of the time we play. Sometimes I just go through these cycles of CK mediocrity and bleah...I'm full off in the rut right now.

It needs to break, I'm supposed to be running a game of Dragon Age tonight.

Grrrrr.......

[Omote]

Yup, it happens to the best of us. For me, I like to play in another, alternative style RPG (sci-fi, historical, etc). If not that, I jump into some mindless video games or start by watching a TV series on DVD or something along those lines. I try to stay away from the game for a few weeks if possible to recharge the creative juices.

~O
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[Zudrak]

Omote wrote:
Yup, it happens to the best of us. For me, I like to play in another, alternative style RPG (sci-fi, historical, etc). If not that, I jump into some mindless video games or start by watching a TV series on DVD or something along those lines. I try to stay away from the game for a few weeks if possible to recharge the creative juices.

~O

I agree with Omote.
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"Galstaff, ye are in a cornfield, when a moustachioed man approaches. What say ye?"

"I shun him."

-----

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-- E. Gary Gygax

[Lord Dynel]

Been right there, DD. I, too, have been in this hobby for 20+ years (24 this year for me) and I've been GM/DM/CK/referee 99% of the time over the years. Hell, the number probably rounds a lot closer to 100%, honestly. I was set for an extended break (it was looking like years) right after 3.0 came out, but my wife started playing and she wanted me to DM that game. That lasted about 4 years, well into the 3.5 era. And my extended break kind of just "went away." Eventually I did get burned out and we ended up playing about 10 sessions in an eight month span in '06. I just couldn't think of any good ideas. Finally, I got my break and got re-energized.

I would say just take a break. See if someone else can run. Make sure they understand it's important to your mental well being.
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Troll Lord wrote:
Lord D: you understand where I"m coming from.

[serleran]

No, I don't feel that way, but I do feel like I don't want to run something which is about the same. It's not that I couldn't, but there is no desire, no passion, no real energy to do it. And for that, I just break away and play something else.
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[Julian Grimm]

I get it. I have ran my games for so long i don't know what it would be like to be a player. However, my recent OTC game has fired me back up since I don't have to keep the game PG.
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[Treebore]

Pretty much the same as Omote. I have found the problem to be sticking with the same rules system, same genre, etc... which is why I mix it up with Traveller, Shadowrun, etc... I haven't suffered total burn out in over a decade.

Switching genre/systems gives that breathe of fresh air I need.
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[seskis281]

For me it's more campaign burnout - where I want to have a "fresh" party, full of juice and inexperience (meaning the PCs) taking on a whole new campaign after one has run its course.
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[Sir Ironside]

Yep, I am a GM at heart and much prefer it that way. I'm not bragging or anything, but there have been very few GM's that were engaging enough to stay interested as a player. I think the real curse is even if they are good, my mind meanders to what I would have done as a GM rather than paying attention to the game and my character.

I've been lucky enough to have scheduled and unscheduled breaks from gaming that keep the battery charged. Plus game night means just that, game night. The campaign is scheduled for that night but for a multitude of reasons (Someone important to the party doesn't show up, it is dragging a bit, I'm not actually ready and refuse to run a sub-par game or someone doesn't show up with a cigar on cigar night ruins the mood.) we decide to do something else. Play a boardgame, Let someone else do a one-shot; more accurately me, watch a movie... whatever. I never force myself into something I don't want to do as it will just suck if you do. I have never had a problem, with the group, when we decide to do something else.

Since we are all being bean counters here... I've been gaming since 1979. I refuse to do the math.
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That is SIR! to you!

[Maliki]

Same here, I spend most of the time DMing, and it does start to drain you. I have not gamed at all (either as a DM or player) since late spring/early summer, and until recently I have not even had the desire to play. Hopefully soon I will be kicking off a Dragon Age campaign, and I hope that the time off mixed with a new system will get things flowing again.
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[Breakdaddy]

Ive been there more than once. I usually try to run a different system and genre for a while. I usually do a couple of one-shots with Savage Worlds or WFRP to get the creative juices flowing again. One-shots are great because you can turn the games into a virtual GM's playground where you can test all of your ideas that were previously tabled because they didnt fit the campaign or you didnt think theyd fly with your group. Pick a setting thats got you pumped like Dragon Age or whatever you like and run with it. Dont be worried about continuity just run it fast and loose as a one shot. This has always worked for me.

[commanderFuron]

I try to play in at least as many games as I GM. I find playing both helps generate ideas and gives good perspective on the other side of the screen.

Other than that, like the others have said if you're just not up to it you got to take a break.

[Relaxo]

Yep.

Happens to the best of us.

Try like Omote said, a new game, or a one off in another game or genre... maybe something totally oddball like the pcs are sucked thru a portal to a dimention where everything is totally nuts (don't tell them they're actually playing TOON...) when everyone is ready to kill you, announce the PCs all wake up saying, " man, i had teh weirdest dream"

or something.
A more normal approach is to announce you need a break and ask if anyone else wants to Dm a game session or three. Nothing gets the itch back like playing again.

[DangerDwarf]

Well, my grumbling mayhaps was a bit premature. Tonight we took a break from our Umbrage Saga campaign and I ran Dragon Age for the first time.

I had initially planned on running a brief "get together" and move on toThe Dalish Curse out of the GM guide but the creative juices got flowing so much that after a three hour session (gotta work in the morning) we still haven't started the Dalish Curse and probably got 1 more session to go before we reach the intro part of that adventure.

A system switch seems to be what I needed at the moment. We rocked out tonight nd everyone had a blast with the new system. Finally getting a chance to run Dragon Age I gotta say it rocks. Simple system that is a blast in actual use. The Stunt System is friggin awesome. You should have seen the group once the concept of the Stunt system fully hit them. The freakin' rouge was a stunt monster on the dice this session. He rolled doubles almost every attack and was descriptive, excited and fun to see.

Oh yeah, I think I'm back. My group bitched that the session had to end and are chomping at the bit to get going on my next days off.

[Lord Dynel]

Glad to hear that the burnout didn't rear it's ugly head too much, DD!
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LD's C&C creations - the witch, a half-ogre, skill and 0-level rules

Troll Lord wrote:
Lord D: you understand where I"m coming from.

[Breakdaddy]

HAH MY ADVICE WERKIED EVEN IF YOU DIDNT READ IT FIRST. TAKE THAT, PLANET EARF!!!!!!

[Maliki]

DangerDwarf wrote:
Well, my grumbling mayhaps was a bit premature. Tonight we took a break from our Umbrage Saga campaign and I ran Dragon Age for the first time.

I had initially planned on running a brief "get together" and move on toThe Dalish Curse out of the GM guide but the creative juices got flowing so much that after a three hour session (gotta work in the morning) we still haven't started the Dalish Curse and probably got 1 more session to go before we reach the intro part of that adventure.

A system switch seems to be what I needed at the moment. We rocked out tonight nd everyone had a blast with the new system. Finally getting a chance to run Dragon Age I gotta say it rocks. Simple system that is a blast in actual use. The Stunt System is friggin awesome. You should have seen the group once the concept of the Stunt system fully hit them. The freakin' rouge was a stunt monster on the dice this session. He rolled doubles almost every attack and was descriptive, excited and fun to see.

Oh yeah, I think I'm back. My group bitched that the session had to end and are chomping at the bit to get going on my next days off.

Good to hear.
I hope DA does the same for me when I get a chance to run it.
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Never throw rocks at a man with a Vorpal Sword!

[Rikitiki]

Things I've done to un-burnout:

grabbed my deck of Tarot cards, had somebody shuffle them, told folks to pick a character to play (no limits) then turned the first card over and that image created the starting-point...onwards thru the deck became the adventure.

Set up with another GM ahead-of-game and, every time something put my character in a stess situation, the world would shift (oh! those goblins you're fighting have all turned into dwarves now!) - I'd sit down and whip out my character-sheet, he'd take over GMing, and so it would go all game. Works really well to set-up the players to swear to protect and help the LG cleric (me) through the quest only to get stuck with my alternate (other-GM's LE cleric) when the world shifts.

Have all players roll - highest roll goes first: player character picks a piece of their backstory and that gets investigated/adventured by the whole group, creating new story-line for them and the group -- each player bit can be an entire night's adventure or many mini-ones.

Have no idea myself what's behind doors, etc - every time the adventure is at that stepping-into-encounter-point ask each player "So, whaddya think's behind the door?" - and run with whatever sounds most bizarre, or let the dice decide whose to use.

...and so on...

[Piperdog]

I find that I run games more now that my kids are involved, but within my adult gaming group, I have been the GM less than half the time. I really enjoy both aspects, because it really is two different experiences. Playing lets you immerse yourself into one character and really BE that character, while GMing is a very creative story telling experience aimed at entertaining your group. Both are fun. One trick I had to ward off burn out was tag team GMing. I would GM and flesh out our homebrew world, and then I would shove all my notes and maps over to my buddy, and he would use all of it plus flesh out and add even more, putting additional spins on things. Then eventually, it would all come back to me again. We did this every six months or so, and it really made our campaign world seem real. It was cool for my character to meet NPC's that I had originally created. It is that kind of thing that can ward off burn out, and make things fun.
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[DangerDwarf]

Breakdaddy wrote:
HAH MY ADVICE WERKIED EVEN IF YOU DIDNT READ IT FIRST. TAKE THAT, PLANET EARF!!!!!!

werd.

advice so go the universe jes makes it hapen